Cities for everyone: reimagining accessible design

A panel discussion that sets out to challenge the polarisation of able-bodied and disabled people and calls for a new conversation about why we just need to design for people.

For this year’s RHS Chelsea Flower Show, landscape designers Harris Bugg Studio were challenged to design a garden for spinal injuries charity Horatio’s Garden. The brief was to design a space that was imperceptibly accessible - beautiful and functional for all - and not like some of the second class places disabled people are familiar with. Working in collaboration with architects Mcmullan Studio, who conceived and designed the cocoon-like building for the garden, they wanted to set aside preconceptions about accessible spaces and demonstrate that accessible design can be beautiful and functional for everyone in society.

Can what they learned from this design process help to shape a new approach to accessible design?

They are joined by Nick Searl from property developer Argent, Beverley Churchill from placemakers Churchill and Partners and an award-winning disability advocate, to discuss what it means to build a more equitable world. Chaired by Manijeh Verghese, head of public programmes at the Architectural Association.